Sunday letters

Every Sunday, a few letters, chosen from the ones their writers let the world read.

Sunday, October 11, 2026

01Thank you
To ⁨Grace⁩
Houston · 2021
Grace, my mother died at ten past four in the morning, and you were the one holding her other hand. I had been gone two minutes, only to the bathroom, and I have hated those two minutes ever since, except that when I came back you were there, sitting on the edge of her bed in your blue scrubs, humming something, holding her hand as if you had all the time in the world. You told me she wasn't alone. You told me she…
Read it
02Goodbye
To ⁨Ellie⁩
Vancouver · 2023
Ellie, we were right to stop, and I want to say thank you before I say goodbye. Three years of setting alarms for each other's evenings. Three years of watching you eat breakfast while I ate dinner, of holding the phone to the window to show you my rain while you showed me your snow. We got so good at the distance that we forgot to ask whether we were good at anything else. I'm not angry. Most days I'm not even sad.…
Read it
03Longing
To ⁨Priya⁩
Mumbai · 2018
Priya, you laughed the whole time. Six hours in water up to our knees and you told me the plot of every film you had ever seen, badly, on purpose, until the whole compartment was laughing with you. I got off at Dadar and realised I never asked your number. Every monsoon since, I look for you on that train.
04Thank you
To ⁨Rosa⁩
Guadalajara · 2001
Maestra Rosa, yo era la niña que llegaba sin desayunar, y usted lo sabía. Nunca me lo dijo. Solo dejaba un pan dulce en mi pupitre antes de que sonara la campana, como si alguien lo hubiera olvidado ahí. Durante dos años, alguien lo olvidó ahí todas las mañanas. Me enseñó a leer en voz alta sin que me temblara la voz, y me regaló aquel libro que todavía tengo, con su letra en la primera página. Hoy soy maestra. En mi…
05Goodbye
To ⁨Faisal⁩
Lahore · 2021
Faisal bhai, aap ki kursi pe ab ek naya larka baithta hai jo headphones laga kar kaam karta hai. Woh acha hai, tez hai, lekin raat ke do baje chai ke liye awaaz nahi lagata. Aap ne mujhe pehle hi hafte bata diya tha ke akhbar mein sab se zaroori cheez khabar nahi, saath kaam karne wale hote hain, kyunke khabar to subah tak purani ho jaati hai. Aap retire hue to hum ne cake kaata, taaliyan bajayin, aur mein ne kuch…
06Sorry
To ⁨Naveed⁩
Faisalabad · 2022
Abbu, I watched your hands at my cousin's wedding and couldn't stop looking at them. They were only holding a cup of tea, but I remembered all at once that they were the same hands that gripped the handlebars of the rickshaw from six in the evening until two in the morning for four years, so that I could sit in a lecture hall and be bored. I never thanked you. Worse: in my first year, when my new friends were…
07Thank you
To ⁨Ali⁩
Karachi · 2014
Ali, you were the first friend I ever had in that school. When my father lost his job you split your paratha with me every single day, and you never once made it feel like charity. We moved away before I could say thank you. I am a teacher now. There is a boy in my class who reminds me of me, and I split my lunch with him.

…

Sunday, October 11, 2026

01Thank you

To ⁨Grace⁩

Houston · 2021

Grace, my mother died at ten past four in the morning, and you were the one holding her other hand. I had been gone two minutes, only to the bathroom, and I have hated those two minutes ever since, except that when I came back you were there, sitting on the edge of her bed in your blue scrubs, humming something, holding her hand as if you had all the time in the world. You told me she wasn't alone. You told me she…

Read it

02Goodbye

To ⁨Ellie⁩

Vancouver · 2023

Ellie, we were right to stop, and I want to say thank you before I say goodbye. Three years of setting alarms for each other's evenings. Three years of watching you eat breakfast while I ate dinner, of holding the phone to the window to show you my rain while you showed me your snow. We got so good at the distance that we forgot to ask whether we were good at anything else. I'm not angry. Most days I'm not even sad.…

Read it

03Longing

To ⁨Priya⁩

Mumbai · 2018

Priya, you laughed the whole time. Six hours in water up to our knees and you told me the plot of every film you had ever seen, badly, on purpose, until the whole compartment was laughing with you. I got off at Dadar and realised I never asked your number. Every monsoon since, I look for you on that train.

04Thank you

To ⁨Rosa⁩

Guadalajara · 2001

Maestra Rosa, yo era la niña que llegaba sin desayunar, y usted lo sabía. Nunca me lo dijo. Solo dejaba un pan dulce en mi pupitre antes de que sonara la campana, como si alguien lo hubiera olvidado ahí. Durante dos años, alguien lo olvidó ahí todas las mañanas. Me enseñó a leer en voz alta sin que me temblara la voz, y me regaló aquel libro que todavía tengo, con su letra en la primera página. Hoy soy maestra. En mi…

05Goodbye

To ⁨Faisal⁩

Lahore · 2021

Faisal bhai, aap ki kursi pe ab ek naya larka baithta hai jo headphones laga kar kaam karta hai. Woh acha hai, tez hai, lekin raat ke do baje chai ke liye awaaz nahi lagata. Aap ne mujhe pehle hi hafte bata diya tha ke akhbar mein sab se zaroori cheez khabar nahi, saath kaam karne wale hote hain, kyunke khabar to subah tak purani ho jaati hai. Aap retire hue to hum ne cake kaata, taaliyan bajayin, aur mein ne kuch…

06Sorry

To ⁨Naveed⁩

Faisalabad · 2022

Abbu, I watched your hands at my cousin's wedding and couldn't stop looking at them. They were only holding a cup of tea, but I remembered all at once that they were the same hands that gripped the handlebars of the rickshaw from six in the evening until two in the morning for four years, so that I could sit in a lecture hall and be bored. I never thanked you. Worse: in my first year, when my new friends were…

07Thank you

To ⁨Ali⁩

Karachi · 2014

Ali, you were the first friend I ever had in that school. When my father lost his job you split your paratha with me every single day, and you never once made it feel like charity. We moved away before I could say thank you. I am a teacher now. There is a boy in my class who reminds me of me, and I split my lunch with him.